Offender vocational rehabilitation services and postrelease employment: A case for inmates with disabilities

Abstract

Offender rehabilitation has received widespread attention in the field of criminology. However, researchers have often overlooked its effects on an important demographic in prison—offenders with disabilities. Relying on data from the Rehabilitation Services Administration, the current study examines the success of vocational rehabilitation services in securing employment for offenders with disabilities postrelease. Results suggest an overall positive relationship between using any type of rehabilitation service and a successful employment outcome postrelease. Further, utilizing vocational rehabilitation services show a consistent and positive relationship with a successful employment outcome for offenders with disabilities postrelease. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Employment
• disabilities
• prison reentry
• offender rehabilitation
• rehabilitation services

Notes

1 For additional details on the data collection procedures and to access the Case Service Reporting Manual, see https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/rsa/pd-06-01.pdf

2 Unfortunately, age of the inmate is not a variable available in the data set.

3 Physical disabilities include blindness, other visual impairments, deafness (primary communication visual), deafness (primary communication auditor), hearing loss (primary communication visual), hearing loss (primary communication auditor), other hearing impairments, deafness-blindness, communicative impairments, mobility orthopedic or neurological impairment, manipulation/dexterity/orthopedic, both mobility and manipulation impairments, other orthopedic impairments, respiratory impairments, general physical debilitation and other physical impairments. Mental disabilities include cognitive impairments, psychosocial impairments and other mental impairments.